catching up

Natalie and her birthday cheesecake.

Here she is taking lessons..the food was delish!

the kids, minus Claire = more enjoyable dinner. a good friend offered to babysit.
"Danny boy" and the girls

My mother and brother in law doing "thriller" on Halloween...so funny!

The kids and their "loot", look at Trenton in the corner..musta lost his candy!

My mom and Dad came over to enjoy the festivities.

My cute little niece Miley and Trenton and my pumpkin that won 1st place at school.

My Star Wars gang!

I haven't been a "blogger" lately and I have alot of catching up to do. I haven't even blogged about Halloween! Yesterday was Natalie's birthday and I always do a blog post for my kids special days but I am just overwhelmed lately. So, for Halloween we left our house and drove down to the Valley to celebrate Halloween in the warmth. We stayed at my parents furnished rental house which is so wonderful to have a place all to ourselves since crashing someone's house is usually no fun for them since it's 7 of us. We went to Brian's sister Carrie's house and had a yummy dinner with homemade rootbeer and all. The dad's all took the kids trick or treating and us mom's stayed back with all the younger ones and chatted in the cozy area set up in their driveway. We really had a great time. The kids love hanging out with cousins and got to spend lots of quality time together. Afterall, it is all about them. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween.

Happy Birthday Natalie on your special day. You are now 13 and becoming such a beautiful young lady. You have passed up your sister in height and shoe size and I think you have passed me too. You wear my shoes but I am sure that won't be for long as you are growing so fast. You are an amazing cheerleader and the best on your team..that's not just me saying that! You love to hang out and do girly stuff together and love being in your sisters company. I hope you will always strive to do your best and be the spiritual girl you are. I know you will grow up so fast and I will miss all the little moments along the way..so today I am promising to slow down and enjoy the ride! I love you and had such a fun day with you yesterday!